Originally Posted by
cyclezealot
Maybe it' s different on a bike. We rented a car and drove from Florence to Naples and back to Rome.( We rented the car after leaving Florence and ditched it before we got to Rome, so as to not drive in the big cities..
. From what we saw Tuscany was the most bike friendly. Awesome scenery.. Italians were great, except when they get in the cars. They go nuts. Particularly south of Rome..In seven days of driving se saw 8 serious accidents.. Two, for sure- the passengers had to have died. . We tried to stay behind buses to reduce the chances of head on's.....
. From behind handlebars the roads seemed friendlier. ? In their cars, their impatience made Californians seem sane. . Tell us. We just had a bad sampling of Italian road skills. ?
I think your assessment is correct. When it comes to car on car, Italians can be very horrible and discourteous drivers. But when it comes to bicycles, Italians seem to treat them differently. I think that in almost every case I was passed with care and was given plenty of room.
In a couple of cases we even had people lead us in their car as they showed us how o get to a destination.
The only issue is the traffic circles. There you it is pretty much every man / woman for himself!
